Body language expert breaks down Trump's 'erratic' response as he savagely insults reporter
A body language expert has broken down Donald Trump's response as he savagely insulted a reporter during an interview that marked 100 days since the Republican president returned to office.
The 47th POTUS sat down with ABC News' Terry Moran to mark the milestone, and there were a lot of subjects on the agenda.
Kilmar Armando Ábrego García was among 250 people to have been mass deported to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in El Salvador last month, with the prison widely considered to be the 'world's worst prison'.
The Trump administration later admitted they had made an 'admin error' and Garcia was deported to El Salvador by mistake.
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Previously taking to Truth Social, Trump shared a picture of himself holding a photo of what he claims to be García's hand.
The Trump administration claims the symbols on his knuckles - marijuana, a smiley face, a cross and a skull - spell out MS-13, the name of a criminal gang.
In the image Trump shared, the letters 'M S 1 3' were added in printed text above the symbols, presumably to explain how the Trump administration interpreted them.
There was also written text - 'marijuana', 'smiley', 'cross' - describing the symbols.
It's pretty clear these additional letters, numbers and text are not tattooed on Kilmar's hand alongside the symbols, as seen in a photo shared by President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele earlier.
Trump's Truth Social post came up in the ABC interview, leading to perhaps the most tense moment in the conversation.
"When we have criminals, murderers, criminals in this country we have to get them out, and we're doing it. You'll pick out one man but even the man that you picked out he said he wasn't a member of a gang and then they looked and on his knuckles - he had MS-13," Trump said.
After Moran argued he was 'disputing' that, Trump insisted: "Wait a minute, wait a minute. He had MS-13 on his knuckles tattooed."
Moran responded: "He had some tattoos that were interpreted that way, but let's move on."
"Wait a minute. Hey Terry, Terry, Terry. Don't do that. It says MS-13," Trump interjected.
The journalist said the image was photoshopped, which Trump did not take too kindly to.
The 78-year-old continued: "That was photoshopped? Terry you can't do that. They're giving you the big break of a lifetime.
"You know you're doing the interview, I picked you because frankly I never heard of you but that's OK. But I picked you."
Body language expert Darren Stanton has broken down Trump's response to being quizzed.
Speaking on behalf of Genting Casino, Stanton explained: "The reporter appears to be really riling him up. I think the flippancy of the reporter created some real anger and frustration.
"When Trump thinks he is not being listened to he tends to escalate things quite quickly, as he did in this situation. He was clearly very frustrated and angry.
“You see his brows furrow and his gestures start to become more erratic. He does that movement with his hands, I call it the ‘accordion gesture’, a lot when stressed and you can see the speed and frequency of those movements increasing.
“He also leans backwards and squints his eyes, almost turning his head from the reporter in disgust. This is a clear signal of the disdain and anger towards the reporter quickly and calmly shutting down his lie.”
It's disputed if the symbols on Kilmar's knuckles actually reference the MS-13 gang, and experts told CBS the tattoos were unlikely to be a sign of gang affiliation.
It's also unclear if Trump actually believes 'M S 1 3' is tattooed on Kilmar's hand above the symbols, or if he was actually arguing that he believes the meaning of the symbols is obvious.
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Callum Jones